Purity and Standards

This weekend, my friend and I had the privilege to take four teenagers to a purity conference.  It was a loooong drive.  Four.five hours to be exact.  Was it worth it?  YOU BET!  See, I LOVE the youth.  The youth is where my heart is.  It was such an honor to take these girls and pray with them and see God working in their lives.

Bro. Travis Plumlee was the speaker.  If you read my blog often, you know that I love listening to him preach the Word of God.  This man can deliver.  He knows how to make it funny for teens, but serious enough to where they actually listen.  Our preacher has the same gift!  I would say there was about 100 girls there all together.  I wanted to share some of the notes that I took.  Some of this may be a bit harsh, as in NOT what you want to hear, but it's the truth, and God says to speak the truth.

We are called to be Ladies of Honor.  1 Peter 3:3,4  "3-Do not let your adornment be merely outward-- arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-- 4-Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
Does this mean we aren't to fix our hair or wear nice clothes....NO.  This means that what is truly important is what is INSIDE your heart.  Jesus.  In order to let Jesus shine, you have to show it.  He doesn't shine through your designer clothes and your perfectly-in-place hair.  He shines through your spirit.

A man on your arm adds NOTHING to your relationship with Christ.  Stop looking for a man and look UP to HIM!  Girls are an ornament on His tree.

When we worry more about what we wear and how we look than what our spirit looks like, we are letting the world shine through us.  Let God be the inner part of your body shining through.

Be a unique woman.  Feminine does NOT equal weak.  A strong woman is one who can make a decision, has beliefs, character, and shows action.  Set a new path of society for women today.

Dating in the American society is soooooo messed up.  Think about it.  Do we say to our little ones, "oh you have a crush on so and so!  hahahaha!"  This is something I have done in the past, but not anymore.  I don't want my daughter to get her heart broken over and over and over. We are going to set standards for her.  Elementary, middle school, and junior high is way too young to think about boyfriends and girlfriends.  

Before you court or date anyone- PRAY about it.  Guard your heart.  It's God's treasure, not yours.  It's not yours to give out to a million boys.  Guard your heart through prayer.

Did you know that flirting produces lust?  Yes!  I see so many young girls flirting.  They are doing nothing but making it so much harder on young men to keep thoughts away.

The world says there is pleasure and joy in sexual impurity.  Strengthen your purity.  Memorize scripture.  If a boy asks you to go out- ask him to come to church.  If he wants to sit by you, have him sit by your parents.  If he truly is interested in you, he will come and pay attention to what you enjoy.

Those are just a few of the notes.  The main thing I wanted to talk about was standards.  This is something that I think is HIGHLY important for ALL young teens today.  Set standards in your house as to what you expect from them when it comes to boys/girls.
Courting is something I didn't hear about until recently.  Will I have Ruthie and Randy court before dating- YES.  This is something God has laid upon my heart and has taught me about.  Courting is saying, "hey, I like you, and think you are cute.  Let's get to know each other better through friendship and fellowship, supervised everywhere we go."  Dating will come later on in their teens, *maybe* around 18.  Standards will be set.  NOTHING should be done in courtship.  No hand holding, no kissing.  Hugging is ok.  Kissing can happen in dating, but in MODERATION.  A LOT of young teens at the purity conference want to save their kiss for marriage.  I think this is amazing.  They want to stay pure!  There will be no riding together in the same car.  Date in public places for at least 6 months.  Courting and dating is to make sure this person is the one you want to spend your life with.  Don't give your heart away to tons of boys.  You are giving bits and pieces of your heart away and that heart belongs to God.  Stay pure.  At the end of the conference, they were given the choice to sign a purity covenant. They didn't have to, but all of our girls did.  I wrote it down to remember when the time comes for Ruthie.  Here is what it said:

I promise my God, parents, my future mate, and myself to keep my mind and body morally clean and pure so that when I enter the marriage covenant, I will be able to give myself with a completely clean conscience to my mate.

I was SO grateful to have the chance to attend this conference.  I learned so much that will help me in my walk in motherhood with Ruthie.  Thank you Jesus for your awesome Word!  Thank you for giving me the knowledge to share this with my daughter when the time comes.  She is SO precious to me.